1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for dividing a semiconductor wafer according to which a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of semiconductor devices is divided into individual pieces, such that each is one of the above described semiconductor devices, as well as a manufacturing method for semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various processes for dividing a semiconductor wafer of this type, that is to say, various manners of a dicing process in semiconductor device manufacturing processes have been known. There is, for example, a method for dividing semiconductor devices that have been respectively formed on a semiconductor wafer into individual semiconductor devices by mechanically cutting the semiconductor wafer along dividing lines using a disc-shaped cutter that uses diamond or the materials and is referred to as a dicer (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-173987). In addition to such a method for dicing using the dicer, there is a method for dividing a semiconductor wafer by radiating a laser beam along the dividing lines (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-151924).
In accordance with these conventional methods for dividing a semiconductor wafer using a dicer or a laser beam as described above, the semiconductor wafer is cut along the dividing lines which are arranged in a grid-like arrangement on the surface of the semiconductor wafer, and thereby, the semiconductor wafer is divided into individual pieces, each of which is a semiconductor device in rectangular form.